Spring Meeting 2014.

Spring Meeting 2014

The Executive Committee has decided to hold a Spring Meeting this year in order to update club members on some significant developments in relation to outdoor recreation and access to the countryside.

We are therefore inviting club members to come to Lough Neagh Discovery Centre at Oxford Island on Saturday 12 April 2014. The meeting will start at 10.00 am with tea/coffee and will finish with a sandwich lunch served at around 1.00pm.

We have lined up two speakers for the meeting. Firstly Mike McClure of Sport NI will give a presentation on the Outdoor Recreation Action Plan, which will shortly be publicly launched. This has been drawn up by Sport NI on behalf of all government departments and agencies in Northern Ireland and sets out the future agenda for the development of outdoorrecreation including walking and rambling.

Our second speaker will be Niall McAleenan for the Northern Ireland Environment Agency. Niall will present some recent findings on the economic benefit of access and recreation in the countryside. These findings should help us when we lobby councils and government for more and better access facilities.

Time permitting we would also like to gauge members’ views on wind energy. Wind farms and wind turbines are becoming increasingly common in our countryside. UFRC policy is supportive of renewable energy but not at the expense of our natural environment. We know that members are concerned about some new proposed windfarms in scenic areas and welcome your views on the position that UFRC should take in such cases.

I know it is a busy time of the year for rambling clubs but a good turnout would be much appreciated. It would be especially good if all our affiliated clubs were represented. To help with catering please ask your members to notify our administrator Simon Reardon (administration@ufrc-online.co.uk) if they are planning to attend. See agenda below